‘Ted 2’ Poster; First Trailer Premieres on Thursday

More and more Summer 2015 releases have begun their marketing push of late; the first Fantastic Four trailer released today, Ant-Man‘s teaser hit the ‘Net earlier this month, and the trailer for Mission: Impossible 5 should be arriving soon, now that it’s been bumped up to a July release. Also beginning its promotional work this week is Ted 2, Seth MacFarlane’s sequel to his 2012 raunchy comedy (which grossed nearly $550 million worldwide).

Ted 2 is co-written and directed by MacFarlane and again features Mark Wahlberg as John Bennett, whose best friend is his foul-mouthed teddy bear Ted (MacFarlane), brought magically to life by John’s childhood wish. Costarring in the sequel is Morgan Freeman as a civil rights lawyer, who represents Ted in court for reasons that have yet to be revealed. In addition, Amanda Seyfried and Liam Neeson (both appeared in MacFarlane’s A Million Ways to Die in the West last year) also have roles to play in the story.

Wahlberg’s human costar from Ted, Mila Kunis, won’t figure into the plot for Ted 2, for reasons that have yet to be revealed. We should know more about the premise for this comedy sequel soon, as the first trailer for the film launches online this Thursday. In the meantime, Universal has unveiled the first poster for the movie – and like any piece of marketing for a MacFarlane film, it revolves around a not-so-subtle lewd joke tagline/visual.

McFarlane failed to go two-for-two as a filmmaker when he followed up the first Ted with A Million Ways to Die in the West. The latter was a bust with critics (unlike Ted), and its $86 million global take was a big drop-off from the turnout for the Family Guy creator’s feature-length directing debut. That’s to say, with Ted 2 MacFarlane’s more in a position to make a comeback, rather than continue a win streak.

Comedy sequels rarely match and/or exceed their predecessors in terms of either creative success or commercial success (the exceptions like 22 Jump Street aside). However, MacFarlane’s brand of humor is pretty well-established and his comedy approach is generally the same regardless of the project, so Ted 2 could just as well be a recovery for the comedy actor/filmmaker as it could be another stumble.

Ted 2 opens in U.S. theaters on June 26th, 2015; check back here on Thursday for the first trailer!